Heaps of history ….. and the Market Harborough challenge

 I must confess I had never come across that 17th century timber building in Market Harborough which once served as the towns grammar school and covered in market.

2024

According to one source “the former Grammar School of 1614  is a small scale timber framed building with an open ground floor designed to "keepe the market people drye in tyme of fowle weather" and having above it the former school room. This building represents the close of the timber framed tradition of buildings in the area”.*

It is in the heart of a conservation area which includes the former sheep market. 

"The middle section of the original market space now comprises the lower High Street, Church Street, Church Square and Adam & Eve Street. This is the traditional retail hub of the town. It is an area of small-scale buildings of varying ages. ….. 

2024

The centre of this area is Church Square dominated by three buildings, the first two on island sites rising from the pavement. First is the great Church of St. Dionysius with its soaring spire of white limestone. The Church rises directly from the pavement without a churchyard, as it was until 1901 a chapel of the Parish Church at Great Bowden 2 miles away. Secondly, alongside the church is the former Grammar School of 1614,  [and] the third building overlooking the Church and Square is the Council offices, Library and Museum. It is a 4-storeyed former corset factory of 1889”.

We washed up there on a hot day on the way to the small village of Kibworth Harcourt. And as you do we stopped to explore and find somewhere to eat.

The restaurant turned out a good choice, more so because the tables spilled out across the square under the shade of a tree.

2024

And from there we watched as the townspeople went about their business or like us enjoyed a drink, and a meal.

After which we sauntered across the square and while the others  “did the shops” I did the conservation area, but despite all my best attempts I couldn’t get a decent picture of the  grammar school and was left with falling back on a 1905 picture postcard from the company of Tuck and Sons.

1905

To be fair when our commercial photographer did his picture the space in front of the hall would have been less busy and I doubt he would have to have dodged the traffic and snapped away before the traffic lights turned colour.

So that's the challenge .... better the 1905 image.

Location Market Harborough

Pictures; The grammar school, 2024 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and in 1905 from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/ 

*Conservation Areas in Harborough district - Market Harborough Conservation Area, Market Harborough District Council, https://www.harborough.gov.uk/directory_record/1276/market_harborough_conservation_area

Out with the photographer Robert Banks on the streets of Manchester sometime before 1912

Now I can be fairly confident that Mr Banks took this picture of Oxford Street sometime before 1912, but more about that later.

In the meantime I shall start with the man himself who had one of those remarkable careers which seemed to epitomise the self made Victorian man.*

He stands alongside some of our other Manchester photographers.**

He was born in 1847, he father was a journeyman carpenter and at the age of 15 he was working as a woollen piecer in a mill.*

And yet within a few years he had become an illustrator on the Oldham Chronicle and at 21 had opened a photographic business on the High Street in Uppermill all of which was but a prelude to a successful career in Manchester.

Having set up business in the city in 1873, he quickly won a series of commissions and as they say never looked back.

During the rest of the century and into the next he photographed many of the most important events that occurred in the city and was quick to issue these in collections for sale.

And never one to miss an opportunity I am told that having taken pictures of the unveiling of the statue of Queen Victoria he made a special journey to Windsor Castle and presented them to the Royal Family.***

But he will also be remembered for a wonderful collection of street scenes like this one of “Oxford Street from Whitworth Street. [Showing] on the left St Mary’s Hospital and Total’s Warehouse, and on the right the Theatre of Varieties and St James’s Hall, with St Peter’s Church in the distance.”

It is a scene few now remember.

St Peter’s Church and the hospital were demolished a long time ago and the elaborate facade of what is now the Palace Theatre disappeared behind those drab tiles in 1957.

And what no one will now  recognise is the building beyond the theatre with its tall clock tower, for this was St James’s Hall, built in 1884, closed in 1907 and briefly reopened as a cinema in 1908 and was replaced in 1912 by St James’s Buildings which still stand on the site today.

Something of what the hall was like can be seen from the Gould’s Fire Insurance Map which dates from around 1900.

But that is enough for now.  My friend Sally has kindly given me more of Mr Bank’s pictures from a collection she bought and I now have a promise of some of his earlier photographs taken in Saddleworth which the Museum there has promised to pass over.

So it rather looks as if there will be lots more of Robert Banks to come.

And as often happens, someone has helped with the story.  Lee Hutchins has written that "St Peters Church in the distance was taken down in January 1907 and St Mary's Hospital to the left was completed in 1901 so taken between 1901 and 1906"


Pictures;, Oxford Street before 1912, courtesy of Sally Dervan and detail of St James’s Hall from Gould’s Fire Insurance Map, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Robert Banks, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Robert%20Banks

**Manchester artist and photographers, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20artist%20and%20photographers

***from a conversation with James Stanhope-Brown who also told me that sadly there is no reference in the Royal collection to the event.  He has also published Manchester From the Robert Banks Collection, in 2011, the History Press

When you knew you were home …….travels with a ferry

Enough said.

Location; Woolwich

Picture; the ferry, Woolwich, 2012, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Picking up on Chorlton's story at The Oaks ..... Edge Lane

I am the first to admit that it is lazy history to claim that one house  can reflect the story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy from the mid 19th century onwards.

22 Edge Lane, 1907 shown in red

But if I did, 22 Edge Lane is up there amongst the list.*

It was built in 1865, was home to a succession of wealthy families, and during the last century went through a transformation into multi-occupancy and is now being renovated and redeveloped.

Now, there are plenty of those big houses which fit into that category, but 22 Edge Lane is the one I am focusing on.

The Haselgrove family were the first to own and occupy the property, giving it the name of the Oaks and were typical of the “new people” who were moving into Chorlton-cum-Hardy, when the area was still a rural community.

But already by 1865 the township was changing.

The arrival of the railway sixteen years earlier at the bottom of Edge Lane, along with improvements to the supply of water and sanitation began to make Chorlton an attractive place to live.

22 Edge Lane, entrance, date unknown

And so during the 1860s through the next two decades, there was residential creep along Edge Lane, which was replicated by similar developments following the Egerton estate’s decision to cut Wilbraham Road through Chorlton and onto Fallowfield.

The building of these big properties pre dated the much bigger housing boom which began in 1880 in the area once known as Martledge which was the strip of land around the junction of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads.

These tended to be smaller properties, and were home to the “middling people” who were mainly drawn from the professional and clerical occupations.

But while they may have been the future of Chorlton, those big houses were part of that history as were the people who lived in them.

And that is the link to the Mr. Nicolai Christian Schou, and his family who had made 22 Edge Lane their home in 1871.

Edge Lane, 2019, before redevelopment began

He was a “shipping agent” with offices at 38 Cooper Street which was on the corner with Bootle Street.

The building and his stretch of Cooper Street vanished when Central Ref was built in the 1930s, but was still there at the beginning of the 20th century when it was occupied by Overman and Co., which earlier had operated in partnership with Mr. Schou. 

Just when the two got together is yet to be discovered, but the records show that during the 1860s well into the following decade the company was listed just as N. C. Schou.

Sadly he left very little in the way of a paper trail.  I know he was born in 1834, and was buried in the St James’s Birch-In-Rusholme, in 1881.

But the parish burial records do contain a touching reference to the family, listing the deaths of his wife, and two of his children.  “In memory of Frances Mary wife of Nicholi Christien Schou, died 28th April 1869, aged 36 years also Constance Mary their daughter died 21st November 1863 aged 3½ months also Nicholi Christian Schou born 22nd April 1834 died 2nd December 1881 also Oscar Henry their second son born 6th March 1859 died 2nd August 1892”.

20 Edge Lane, next door to no. 22, 1959

That pretty much is all there is so far, other than the census return for 1871 which lists him living at Edge Lane, with his five children and four servants who included the housekeeper, a cook, housemaid and charwoman.

We may today be surprised at the number of servants, but his neighbours employed almost as many, which again marks number 22 out as typical of the time and place.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture, 22 Edge Lane, 2019, courtesy of Armistead Property**, Edge Lane and entrance to 22 Edge Lane, date unknown, Lloyd Collection, OS map 1907, and 20 Edge Lane, 1959, A E Landers, m17780, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*At 22 Edge Lane, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/At%2022%20Edge%20Lane

**Armistead Property Ltd, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/

That house “half as old as time” ….. and heaps of stories ...Kibworth Harcourt

This is the Old House in Kibworth Harcourt. 

The Old House, 2024

It dates from 1678 and along with its garden walls is a Grade 1 Listed Building.

I can think of only a few houses which have so caught my interest that I have to confess to being a tad envious of its residents.

"Half as old as time" and with great style, 2024

It stands on the corner of Albert Street and Main Street and consists of sixteen rooms with a large garden to the rear and side.

I went looking for its story and tracked some of its owners and occupants back to 1841 and on through the centuries to 1962.

They were a mix of the well to do, with a sprinkling of high-ranking soldiers including Brigadier – General James Lockhead Jack, DSO who lived there from 1924 till 1962. He is remembered by a green plaque on the side of the property along with Anna Letitia Barbauld “essayist poet and innovative children’s author”. 

She was born in the house in June 1743 and rightly has her own blue plaque located on the garden wall close to the front entrance.

And having trawled the historic records I also came across a fine description of  the Old House on a Kibworth site which describes both the house and some of its history through the centuries  from 1678 down to 2011.*

"The essayist, poet and innovative children's author"

It would be tempting just to “lift” the information but that would not be right, and instead if you want to read about the Parker family who purchased the land in 1609, and built two houses on the site, along with heaps of other residents I suggest you follow the link.

Afterall I could never better the research of Mr. Adams and it would be churlish to try.

So, instead I will fall back on a brief reflection of Kibworth Harcourt, which I first came across last year while looking for old picture postcards of Leicester.

There were only two, dated from the 1920s, but offered up one of those challenges to locate them in the village and tell some stories.

And as you do I found out lots.

Kibworth Harcourt was and still is a small village just 10 miles south of Leicester, with a population of 990, which has only doubled in a century.

"Elegance in the sunlight", 2024

Back in 1916 there were just 446 people with the usual list of tradesmen, and those linked to the land, but also a number who were engaged in the hosiery trade.  

To these can be added the 15 “posh people” who got their own listing in Kelly’s directory for 1916 including Col. Worthy Chaplain C.B., V.C., at Kibworth hall, and Major George Travers in the Old house.

It boasted three pubs and a beer seller and those hosiery frame knitters one of whom also ran the Admiral Nelson.

And without realizing it when we booked a small cottage on Main Street we would be in the heart of part of the village.

Added to which from the cottage we had fine views up the road to the Old House and the rest as they say is the story.

That wall, 2024

All of which leaves me to admit that each night we parked up beside that long garden wall and while we never got to see inside either the house or the garden our location let rip my historical imagination.

The long garden wall was an addition built in 1862 along with an extension at the rear of the house.

And while that wall maybe the baby of the property, its old enough for me marvel at its 2 meter height and its construction.

Location Kibworth Harcourt

Pictures; the Old House and its plaques, 2024, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*THE OLD HOUSE KIBWORTH HARCOURT - part 1, David Adams, 2019, Kibworth Village, https://www.kibworthvillage.co.uk/museum/item/51-oldhouse.html

A pub ... a farm.... and that walk through Chorlton-cum-Hardy in 1881

Now I grant you this isn’t the zippiest of titles, but it does the business.

We are standing at the junction of Barlow Moor Road and Wilbraham Road, looking up towards Martledge and the year is 1881.

Wilbraham Road was still relatively new having only been cut a decade and a bit before, but had already begun to attract some wealthy residents who settled along the stretch from Edge Lane towards Barlow Moor Road.

And that fulfilled the expectations of the Egerton estate who in the 1850s had considered a route which would run from Stretford through to Fallowfield, creating a new highway which could better connect Chorlton-cum-Hardy to Wilmslow Road and in turn open up the township to new developments as well as the possibility of more trade.

There had been a series of alternatives , all of which favoured a route to the north of the one built, but all seemed to have been abandoned possibly because the land was dotted with small water courses and ponds which had given the area the name of the Isles.

As it was the route chosen sliced through Manchester Road which ran away from the village and up to West Point and which by degree passed through Martledge which was one of the three hamlets which made up Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

Today, on a wet grey day when the rain clouds touch the tops of the houses, the best way to get a sense of the area is street google, which offers up a map, a satellite view and of course pictures of the properties along the way.

But I have the 1881 map, commissioned by the Withington Board of Health which is both very detailed and very attractive.

And because I can I have chosen to look at the bit which today is a mix of residential and commercial properties, including that car park.

I won't insult any one by commentating on the details that map reveals or a then and now commentary, anyone interested can do that for themselves.

What does fascinate me are the houses along that bit of Manchester Road which vanished under the car park and the long greenhouse behind the old Royal Oak which stood to the north of the present pub and had been dispensing beer and cheer from the early decades of the last century.

The present pub stands on the site of Renshaws Buildings which were a collection of ten back to back cottages which were constructed sometime before 1832.

Leaving me just to wander up Barlow Moor Road to where it joined Manchester Road and stand by the guidepost.  

And here the map throws up one of those tiny bits of history I like.  Back then the post faced a tree lined field, which today is the Co-op Undertakes, and was from 1920 a cinema, which in turn replaced a grand house called Sedge Lynn.  

This was the home of Aron Booth who in the summer and winter of 1882 took a series of photographs of Martledge of which only four have survived.

The Booth’s were one of those new families with money behind them and business interests in the city who had made their home here just as the housing boom of the 1880s was about to take off.

A housing boom which in a few short decades would not only engulf Martledge in rows of houses and shops but ensure that the name of the hamlet was forgotten, so that when people talked about the area they preferred to call it the new town or new Chorlton to distinguish it from the older community which lived around the village.

But what the map shows is that Sedge Lynn was built sometime between the beginning of 1881 and the April of that year, because the house is not there on the mapbut the family show up on the census return which was completed in April.

Leaving me just to trawl the Rate Books to confirm that date.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; Martledge, 1881,  from the map of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1881, Withington Board of Health, courtesy of Trafford Local Studies Centre Sedge Lynn and the view across the Isles towards Longford Hall  in 1882 courtesy of Miss Booth, from the Lloyd Collection

Walking the Thames

Now I am the first to admit it’s a bit of a silly title but that is exactly what my friend Neil did, once under the river at Woolwich and then again at Greenwich.

It’s not my chosen way of leaving Woolwich for that other place, but Neil had never seen either of the foot tunnels and so it was an adventure.

I have to say that these are adventures I no longer want to do.

I prefer the ferry where I can see where I am going and know that the water is below me and not above me.

I still have vivid memories of that old illuminated sign at the Wapping and Rotherhithe  Underground Stations  announcing  “Men working on Pumps” when I used the Tube regularly in the 1960s to know that over is better than under, a feeling enhanced by one visit to Easington Colliery.

Kay’s father who was Chief Mechanical Engineer at the pit thought I would be interested in seeing how generations of the Baxter family had made their living.

There was no way I could say no to my future father in law, although a mile down and three miles out under the North Sea I wish I had done so.

I last walked the walk when I was ten and have never done the journey since.
I do remember it was exciting.

The floor slowly sloped down there was that echoing sound of your footsteps and the point where the other exist came into view.

So that is it.  I have thanked Neil for his pictures, which have made me a tad homesick but not enough to do that walk.

Location; London

Pictures, the foot tunnels, April 2017 from the collection of Neil Simpson